Every person is defined by the communities (s)he belongs to (tweet this)
~ Orson Scott Card
After a while I started to attract a small audience and Leaving Work Behind became a blog – a place where people could read my articles and leave comments. To this day I pride myself on answering just about every single comment you guys take the time to write.
But in the past few months I have begun referring to Leaving Work Behind as a community. Why? Because I want this site to be more than just me talking to you. I want it to be a conversation. I want it to be a debate. I want Leaving Work Behind to be me helping you, and you helping each other.
And that is why I am so incredibly excited to share with you today the biggest evolution of Leaving Work Behind yet. Read on to discover how this brand new community can help to change your life.
A Completely New Design
So let’s start with the most notable thing: the design. If you’re reading this post on a RSS feed reader, click here to see it in all its glory.
Although I was quite attached to the old design (it was mainly coded by me), I knew that if I wanted to elevate Leaving Work Behind to another level, it needed a design that reflected exactly what the community can offer to my audience (you guys!).
While a website design cannot directly help people, I believe that a professional and highly usable design gives every single visitor to Leaving Work Behind a greater opportunity to understand what I can offer them.
The site is now fully responsive (i.e. it looks great on all platforms) and has been carefully designed to put my core message front and center and give the reader clear direction on what they should do when they arrive. In my opinion, that is what good design is all about: communicating a clear message and offering clear direction.
For those of you who are interested in how the design came together, I will be publishing an in-depth post soon!
The Manifesto
Put simply, anyone who visits this site and is at all interested by it needs to read the manifesto. In my opinion, doing so is the key first step in leaving work behind. It is the foundation upon which everything else is built. If you’re an email subscriber then I will have already been sent it to you. If you’re not then you can download the manifesto directly here (or sign up to the email list and I’ll send it straight to you).
Please read it and let me know what you think. I hope it really gets you fired up to leave work behind.
The Email List
There’s a very good reason why the manifesto is packaged as an incentive to sign up to my email list. While a blog is not typically a good interface for taking your audience through a process (i.e. the process of leaving work behind), an email autoresponder can be used to offer a means of navigating the most important things that I have to offer.
That starts (but doesn’t end) with the manifesto. By signing up to the email list you will get weekly updates that inform you of new posts on the blog as well as any news, views and sneak peeks I can share with you. But before that, the autoresponder series will take you on a guided tour of what the Leaving Work Behind community has to offer, including my Facebook page and Twitter profile, but more importantly, the forums.
Beyond that I will use the autoresponder to point subscribers in the direction of my best content, and eventually, to my information products (both free and paid) that they can use to help them leave work behind.
Cynics will say that the email autoresponder series is just a mechanism for making money, and I understand the argument. After all, its final goal will be to point people in the direction of my information products. But with good reason – my information products are (and will continue to be) the very best advice that I can offer, structured in the most logical manner. Furthermore, 100% money back guarantees ensure that each purchaser can get a full refund if they are dissatisfied.
Many bloggers see their autoresponder as a sales funnel. I see it as the most effective means to help people. That is why the number one thing I want visitors to do is subscribe to my email list.
The Community Forums
Although I am excited about the manifesto and my new email autoresponder, the thing I am most excited about is the new Leaving Work Behind Community Forums. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it sooner – since you guys are often so vocal in the comments section, creating a forum where we can all hang out seems a logical evolution.
And true to my comments replying form, I will be highly active on the forums. While I may not be able to respond to everyone, I will do my darndest to. Having said that, I am hoping that the forums will be characterized by everyone being willing to help each other. While I don’t expect to become redundant, I do hope that the Leaving Work Behind community will use the forums as a means of helping themselves and helping each other.
So please, take a moment now to sign up to the forums and post a new thread. I recommend that you start by sharing your story – I’d love to know more about you. Then, feel free to ask any questions that you may have and we’ll all do our best to help you.
What Has Driven This Evolution?
If you’re a regular LWB reader, you’ll know that my priorities these days are (a) helping people and (b) building something that I can be truly proud of.
Here’s the thing: I earn enough money to support my quality of life. I don’t need more money. So in the true spirit of the Leaving Work Behind movement, my focus these days is on my happiness rather than financial wealth. And what makes me happy? Helping people and doing things that I love.
Those two priorities have entirely driven this new incarnation of Leaving Work Behind. The new-and-improved website you see today represents an enormous leap forward in terms of how I can help you to achieve your own goal of leaving work behind and gives you a healthy taste of what is to come.
What Next?
When it comes to the evolution of this site, I feel like I have just reached the end of the beginning and I’m firing up to really make Leaving Work Behind a difference-maker for you.
Over the next few months you can of course expect the usual weekly articles here on the blog, but beyond that, I am gearing up to release a number of products that I believe could help to truly change your life for the better.
Thank you for reading, and stick around – I’ve got some really exciting plans for the future.
Please Share (Your Thoughts!)
This site lives and dies by your involvement, which is I would like to ask a favor of you now. If you could just spare a few moments to share this post with your friends and followers I would be grateful. Please feel free to share the manifesto freely too.
Beyond that, I can’t wait to read what you think in the comment section, so please share your thoughts on the new Leaving Work Behind design with us below!
And if you discover any bugs, broken links, typos or strange-looking things on the site, please let me know and I’ll get them fixed.